Business giants combine to fight global warming

SCMP today:

Business giants combine to fight global warming
Forum to study risks and openings resulting from climate change
Cheung Chi-fai
Mar 18, 2008

A climate change forum set up by businesses in Hong Kong will commission studies to gauge the impact of global warming on their operations and how they can cut carbon emissions.

But forum leaders said it was too early to talk about whether they would back mandatory targets and they needed to complete their own research to identify the potential for emission reductions in different sectors.

The Climate Change Business Forum, comprising 13 businesses and a consulate, was formally launched yesterday, days after the Observatory forecast that winters in Hong Kong could disappear by 2020 if carbon emissions continued to grow unchecked.

The forum will provide a platform for businesses to share experiences on best practices, learn about the risks and opportunities resulting from climate changes, and assist the government in policy making.

The founding forum members were HSBC (SEHK: 0005, announcements, news) , Cathay Pacific (SEHK: 0293), Sino Land and Standard Chartered, which are joined by CLP Holdings (SEHK: 0002), DTZ, Hongkong Electric (SEHK: 0006), Hong Kong Land, Swire Pacific (SEHK: 0019), MTR Corporation (SEHK: 0066), Lai Sun Group, Towngas (SEHK: 0003), Bank of East Asia (SEHK: 0023) and the British consulate.

With initial funding of about HK$2.5 million provided by the members, research will be carried out to find the best ways for various businesses to cut their emissions.
The forum's best-practice committee, with a pool of 30 experts, is identifying possible sectors to be studied, but priorities will probably be in the building, transportation and manufacturing sectors.

Leung Chun-ying, convenor of the Executive Council and chairman of the forum, said businesses should take up the responsibility and leadership in fighting climate change which might have huge repercussions on their operations.

He said the forum would, for the moment, focus on "short-term achievable targets" with "discernible results", while they would in parallel study emission scenarios from different sectors and potential areas for reduction.

"We need to know how much they are emitting now and to what extent they can make reductions and how long it will take before we can sit down to see if targets can be set."
Mr Leung said any targets needed to be realistic as it was primarily the private sector taking up the responsibility to cut emissions.
He stressed that the forum was by no means challenging the government's role, though he believed voluntary efforts by the businesses were generally more effective than mandatory legislation.

"We are not an opponent [of the government]; we are indeed a partnership with the government," he said.

Tony Tyler, chief operating officer of Cathay Pacific and the forum's executive committee chairman, said the research would also look at how international rules such as the Kyoto Protocol would affect operations.